Cat Pausé

Caitlin Clare "Cat" Pausé[1] (/pɔːˈzeɪ/ paw-ZEI)[2] (1979 or 1980[3] – 25 March 2022) was an American academic specialising in fat studies and a fat activist. From 2008 until her death in 2022 she was a senior lecturer at Massey University in New Zealand.

Cat Pausé
Pausé in 2016
Born
Caitlin Clare Pausé

1979 or 1980
Died25 March 2022 (aged 42)
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Alma materTexas State University (BA)
Texas Tech University (MA)
Scientific career
FieldsFat studies, public health
InstitutionsMassey University
Thesis
Doctoral advisorGwendolyn T. Sorell

Education

Pausé completed a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at Southwest Texas State University in 1999. She attained her Master of Arts at Texas Tech University in 2002, and completed her Doctorate of Philosophy in Human Development at Texas Tech University in 2007.[4] Pausé's doctoral work was done under Gwendolyn T. Sorell and included work on the Adult Identity Development Project. Her dissertation explored weight identity in women who were categorized by health systems as "morbidly obese."[4]

Scholarship

Pausé's scholarship focused on the impact of fat stigma on the health and well-being of fat people. She published on coming out as fat,[5] the barriers to health for fat people,[6][7] and the role of social media in fat activism and scholarship.[8][9][10] She was also interested in fat pedagogies[11] and fat ethics.

Pausé was the lead editor of Queering Fat Embodiment (2014). This volume brought together scholarship from various disciplines in order to examine experiences of fat people and intersectionality.[12]

Pausé hosted two international Fat Studies conferences. The first, Fat Studies: Reflective Intersections, took place in Palmerston North in 2012. It included presenters from around New Zealand and Australia and covered topics such as fat pride, obesity panic, and teaching children about fatness and fitness.[13] Pausé guest-edited a special issue of the Fat Studies journal on Reflective Intersections.

The second conference, Fat Studies: Identity, Agency, Embodiment, took place in Palmerston North in 2016. It included presentations from academics and activists from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Chile, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand. Topics covered included fat embodiment and public health, the intersections between race and fatness, and how food corporations marketed themselves as addressing childhood obesity.[14]

Public work and activism
Cat Pausé and Lawrence O'Halloran at a 2013 International Women's Day event in Palmerston North

Pausé was recognized as a public intellectual in the area of fat studies within New Zealand and abroad. Her work was featured in The Huffington Post,[15] Jezebel,[16] and the New Zealand programme 20/20, among others. She was regularly invited to comment on stories related to fatness by national[17] and international media outlets, including ones in Italy,[18] the United Kingdom,[19] and the United States.[20] Across New Zealand, she spoke to Rotary clubs, district health boards, secondary schools, and other groups. She also spoke to Permian Basin Mensa in the United States.[21] She was the keynote speaker at the Women's Health Action Trust Suffrage Breakfast in 2012 in Auckland.[22]

Pausé believed that disseminating scholarship through social media provided for opportunities to broaden academic spaces, enable the participation of different voices, and address the academy's commitment to social justice.[23][10] To this end, she maintained a blog, Tumblr, and Twitter account, all named Friend of Marilyn. Pause contributed to other online outlets, such as The Conversation (an online journal that provides information, analysis, and commentary; prepared by scholars for a lay audience),[24][25][26] Inside Higher Education,[27] Conditionally Accepted,[28] and the Health at Every Size blog.[29] She also wrote two op-eds for national New Zealand media outlets.[30][31]

Pausé's research and activism has garnered controversy. Shortly before her death, Steven Crowder, an American conservative comedian, uploaded a video on YouTube of himself infiltrating a 2020 online fat studies conference in which Pausé was involved at Massey University. Crowder, under a made-up name, portrayed himself as a gender-queer fat studies activist and scholar, and presented a fake academic paper that was accepted by the conference. Crowder claimed being accepted without question to the conference showed the "idiocy" of the fat studies field. Comments on the video were critical of Pausé. In response, Pausé's friend and former Tertiary Education Union representative Heather Warren said: "A lot of Cat's research is around how fat bodies and fat people are dehumanised in our society, and the comments online further go to validate that even in death fat people are dehumanised by society and discriminated against by our society."[32][33]

Friend of Marilyn podcast

The Friend of Marilyn podcast began in 2011, hosted by 999AM Access Manawatu.[34][35] Each episode was structured in three pieces: at the top of the show, Pausé reflected on current fat events and stories. This was followed by an interview with a fat activist, scholar, designer, blogger, etc. The third segment of the show examined a relevant blog post. The show closed with a song from a fat artist. Friend of Marilyn had over 500 regular listeners from across the world, with many of them subscribing to the show through iTunes.[34][35] Pausé undertook a world tour in 2015 and 2016 interviewing people from across the world for the show.[34]

Fat activism

Pausé advocated for fat people and the fact that they deserve the same rights and dignity as non-fat people.[36] Her work included speaking up about discrimination against fat people in numerous areas of life, including workplace discrimination,[37][38] the lack of legal protections that fat people are afforded,[39] fat shaming in the medical community,[40] and the erasure of fat people's sexuality.[41][42]

Fuck, Yeah! Fat PhDs

Fuck, Yeah! Fat PhDs was a Tumblr created by Pausé.[43][15] The Tumblr was created in response to Professor Geoffrey Miller having tweeted that fat people did not have the willpower to complete a PhD program.[44][16] The tweet prompted backlash, and many individuals wrote to him or his employer to protest his comment. Pausé created Fuck Yeah! Fat PhDs in response.

She explained:[45]

I’m not interested in responding to Dr. Miller. While I appreciate those who want to call him out, and yes he deserves it, I’m more interested in addressing the social narratives in which individual comments like Dr. Miller’s are encouraged. I’m also interested in the structural aspects of fat oppression. I decided that what I wanted to do was to highlight all the amazing fat individuals who are in graduate school, or have completed graduate school – to provide a visual repository for anyone who doubts that fat individuals lack the abilities or qualities to succeed in academia.

Tertiary Education Union
Cat Pausé speaking in 2012 from behind a TEU lectern

Pause was involved with the Tertiary Education Union at a national level, sitting on the national council as Women’s Vice-President for six years and also academic representative.[46][47] She was involved in the union's response to online trolls at Victoria University of Wellington.[46]

Death

At the age of 42, Pausé died suddenly in her sleep at her home in Palmerston North on 25 March 2022.[1] Her cause of death has not been made public.[48]

Selected works

Books
  • Pausé, C. J., Wykes, J., & Murray, S (Eds). (2014). Queering fat embodiment. London: Ashgate.[12]

Book chapters
  • Pausé, C. J. (2016). "Promise to try: Teaching fat pedagogies in tertiary education." In E. Carter & C. Russell (Eds.), Fat pedagogy reader: Challenging weight-based oppression in education (pp. 53–60), Peter Lang Publishers.[11]
  • Pausé, C. J. (2015). "Human nature: On fat sexual identity and agency." In H. Hester & C. Walters (Eds.), Fat sex: New directions in theory and activism (pp. 37–50), Ashgate.[49]
  • Pausé, C. J. (2014). "Causing a commotion: Queering fatness in cyberspace." In C. J. Pausé, J. Wykes, & S. Murray (Eds.), Queering fat embodiment (pp. 75–88). London: Ashgate.[12]
  • Pausé, C. J. (2014). "Express yourself: Fat activism in the Web 2.0 age." In R. Chastain (Ed.), The politics of size: Perspectives from the fat-acceptance movement (pp. 1–8). Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishing.[9]

Journal articles
  • Lee, J. A. & Pausé, C. J. (2016). "Stigma in practice: Barriers to health for fat women." Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 2063.[6]
  • Pausé, C. J. & Russell, D. (2016). "Sociable scholarship: The use of social media in the 21st century academy." Journal of Applied Social Theory, 1(1), 5-25.[10]
  • Pausé, C. J. (2015). "Rebel heart: Performing fatness wrong online." M/C, 18(3).[8]
  • Pausé, C. J. (2014). "Die another day: The obstacles facing fat people in accessing shame-free and evidenced-based healthcare." Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 4 (3), 135–141.[7]
  • Pausé, C. J. (2014). "X-static process: Intersectionality within the field of fat studies." Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society, 3 (2), 80–85.[50]
  • Pausé, C. J., Waitere, H., Wright, J., Powell, K., & gilling, m. (2012). "We say what we are & we do as we say: Feminisms in practice." Feminist Review, 102, 79–96. DOI: 10.1057/fr.2011.50
  • Pausé, C. J. (2012). "Live to tell: Coming out as fat." Somatechnics, 2 (1), 42–56.[5]
  • Waitere, H., Tremaine, M., Wright, J., Brown, S., & Pausé, C. J. (2011). "Choosing to resist or reinforce the new managerialism: The impact of performance based research funding on academic identity." Higher Education Research & Development, 30 (2), 205–217.[51]

References
  1. Karaitiana, Karla (7 April 2022). "Parents fly in to take Cat Pausé home to Texas". Stuff. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  2. "World Speech Day NZ - Cat Pausé: Treating fat people better". Massey University. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2022 – via YouTube.
  3. Torrie, Bronwyn (11 July 2012). "'Fat hatred should be banned' - scholar". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  4. "Dr Cat Pause PGDip Public Health, PhD, MA". Massey University. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  5. Pausé, Cat (March 2012). "Live to Tell: Coming Out as Fat". Somatechnics. 2 (1): 42–56. doi:10.3366/soma.2012.0038. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  6. Lee, Jennifer A.; Pausé, Cat J. (30 March 2016). "Stigma in Practice: Barriers to Health for Fat Women". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 2063. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02063. PMC 5201160. PMID 28090202.
  7. Pausé, Cat (Summer 2014). "Die another day: the obstacles facing fat people in accessing quality healthcare - PubMed". Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics. 4 (2): 135–141. doi:10.1353/nib.2014.0039. PMID 25130353. S2CID 42994867. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  8. Pausé, Cat (2015). "Rebel Heart: Performing Fatness Wrong Online". M/C Journal. 18 (3). doi:10.5204/mcj.977. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  9. Pausé, Cat (2014). "Express Yourself: Fat Activism in the Web 2.0 Age". In Chastain, Ragen (ed.). The politics of size: Perspectives from the fat-acceptance movement. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781440829505. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  10. Pausé, Cat; Russell, Deborah (2016). "Sociable scholarship: The use of social media in the 21st century academy". Journal of Applied Social Theory. 1 (1). Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  11. Pausé, Cat (2016). "Promise to try: Teaching fat pedagogies in tertiary education". In Cameron, Erin; Russell, Caroline (eds.). Fat pedagogy reader: Challenging weight-based oppression in education. Peter Lang Publishers. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  12. Pausé, Cat; Wykes, Jackie; Murray, Samantha, eds. (2014). Queering Fat Embodiment. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781409465423.
  13. "Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan: Fat studies conference". Radio New Zealand. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  14. "Conference explores fatness in society". Massey University. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018.
  15. "'F*ck Yeah Fat PhDs' Tumblr Responds To Geoffrey Miller's Controversial Tweet". HuffPost. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  16. 6/04/13 1:40PM (4 June 2013). "Best thing to come out of one NYU professor's "no obese PhDs" shitstorm? Fuck yeah, Fat PhDs!". Jezebel. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  17. "Body positive advocates not sold on Dove curve campaign". Stuff.co.nz. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  18. Bottasini, Veronica (18 July 2012). "Fat Pride: Fat Not Obese". Vogue.it. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  19. Sebag, Clarissa (19 January 2015). "Can fat be beautiful? - BBC Culture". BBC. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  20. "'Rocky Horror' And Body Positivity At Midnight". NPR. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  21. Fernandez, Rudy (2 April 2012). "Fat Activism Comes to the West Texas Mensa Society [VIDEO]". Kean Radio. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  22. "Women's suffrage day shines light on important health issue". Scoop News. Women's Action Health Trust. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  23. "Social media making academia more user-friendly". Massey University. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  24. Pausé, Cat (29 March 2012). "Moving beyond weight: Why the focus on size is bad for health". The Conversation. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  25. Pausé, Cat (7 April 2013). "Media's faceless fatties fuel society's growing sizeism". The Conversation. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  26. "The 'dancer's body' is fat: Force Majeure's Nothing to Lose". The Conversation. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  27. "A professor describes how she teaches students about sexual assault (essay)". Inside Higher Ed.
  28. Pausé, Cat (14 October 2014). "Queering Scholarship: Creating Our Own Spaces in Academia". Conditionally Accepted. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018.
  29. "Search Results for "cat pause"". Health at Every Size. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  30. "Interest grows in Fat Studies university course". Stuff.co.nz. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  31. "OPINION: Being fat in New Zealand". Stuff.co.nz. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  32. "Fat studies academic ridiculed on YouTube before death". NZ Herald. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  33. "Fat studies academic Dr Cat Pausé's work ridiculed online days before her death". RNZ. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  34. Heaton, Thomas (17 March 2016). "Fat positive activist taking message across the world". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  35. "Friend Of Marilyn". Manawatū People's Radio. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020.
  36. Nights (30 November 2016). "Cat Pausé: fat activist". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  37. "Fattism at work should be illegal, UK judge says". Stuff.co.nz. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  38. ""Women, weight, and work" - TV1 Breakfast - May 22nd, 2012". YouTube. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  39. ""Fighting Fat Discrimination" - TV One Breakfast - July 12 2012". YouTube. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  40. "Leukaemia survivor 'fat shamed' while working out at Caroline Bay". Stuff.co.nz. 16 January 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  41. "Time for more hot and heavy scenes on screen: academic". Rotorua Daily Post. NZ Herald. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  42. Gorman, Ginger (2 April 2015). "'Guess what? Fat people do have sex'". News.com.au. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  43. "Fuck yeah! Fat PhDs". Tumblr. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  44. "How it started". Fuck yeah! Fat PhDs. Tumblr. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  45. Pausé, Cat (5 June 2013). "On That Tweet – Fat Discrimination in the Education Sector". Friend of Marilyn. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021.
  46. "Cat Pausé - Election Candidate". Tertiary Education Union. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  47. "Stopwork meetings at Massey in response to proposed changes". Tertiary Education Union. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  48. "TEU mourns the loss of Cat Pausé". Tertiary Education Union. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  49. Pausé, Cat (2015). "Human nature: On fat sexual identity and agency". In Hester, Helen; Walters, Caroline (eds.). Fat Sex: New Directions in Theory and Activism - 1st Edition - Helen. Ashgate. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  50. Pausé, Cat (3 July 2014). "X-Static Process: Intersectionality Within the Field of Fat Studies". Fat Studies. 3 (2): 80–85. doi:10.1080/21604851.2014.889487. S2CID 145699100 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
  51. Waitere, Hine Jane; Wright, Jeannie; Tremaine, Marianne; Brown, Seth; Pausé, Cat Jeffrey (1 April 2011). "Choosing whether to resist or reinforce the new managerialism: the impact of performance‐based research funding on academic identity". Higher Education Research & Development. 30 (2): 205–217. doi:10.1080/07294360.2010.509760. S2CID 144067897 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
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